Page 122 - The Transitional Form Dilemma

THE TRANSITIONAL-FORM DILEMMA

The evolutionist claim is that although Australopithecines possess
a completely simian anatomy, they walked upright—unlike modern
apes.
In fact, however, many studies on Australopithecus have concluded
that the species did not walk upright, and was not bipedal:
1. The world famous anatomist Lord Zuckerman, despite favoring
the theory of evolution, concluded that the Australopithecines were
merely a species of ape and very definitely did not walk upright. 90
2. Charles E. Oxnard, well known for his research on this subject,
and his team concluded that Australopithecus’s skeletal structure resem-
bled that of present-day orangutans. 91
3. In 1994, Fred Spoor of London’s Global University and his team
carried out a wide-ranging study on the Australopithecus skeleton to ar-
rive at a definitive conclusion. The study was performed on an organ in
the ear known as the cochlea which determines the body’s position rel-
ative to the ground. Spoor reached the conclusion that Australopithecus
did not walk in the same manner as human beings. 92
4. In 2000, Brian. G. Richmond and David. S. Strait discussed the
bones in the Australopithecus forearm in a study published in Nature
magazine. Comparative anatomical studies showed that this species
had the same forearm anatomy as present-day quadripedal apes. 93

Indeed, years before the famous evolutionist Richard Leakey said
that the Australopithecine manner of walking resembled that of mon-
keys:
The Rudolf Australopithecines, in fact, may have been close to the “knuckle-
walker’” condition, not unlike the extant African apes 94
Christine Berg, instructor at Washington University School of
Medicine, concluded in a 1994 article in the Journal of Human Evolution
that the walk and posture of Australopithecus were very different from
those of human beings:

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